The Job of a Powerline Technician

illustration: the job of a power technician

Every day, Battle River Power Coop Powerline Technicians work to keep electricity flowing into our member’s homes. They are highly trained people who work on installing and maintaining power lines and poles across our rural areas. Often faced with working in extreme circumstances, Powerline Technicians are trained to work efficiently, safely, and collaboratively to keep our members’ lights on.

Powerline Technicians must deal with many daily occupational hazards:

  • High-voltage contact
  • Working at heights
  • Challenging weather conditions
  • Cuts and burns
power line technician at work
technician climbs power pole
power line technician

Powerline Technicians work outdoors at various worksites and traveling is often part of their workday. The work may be strenuous and require frequent heavy lifting, carrying, and reaching. Getting to the power lines requires climbing poles and working from a bucket attached to an aerial lift boom. Although a 40-hour work week is normal, in emergencies Powerline Technicians may be called out at any hour and in various weather conditions.

Powerline Technicians play an instrumental role and are often the first people on-site, working to make the environment safe for first responders and volunteers by assessing electrical hazards, removing any live wires, and shutting power off to dangerous lines.

power line technician and lift truck

In general, Powerline Technicians:

  • erect and maintain wood power poles and guy wires,
  • install, maintain and repair overhead lines, insulators, conductors, lightning arrestors, switches, transformers, and other associated equipment
  • work with various types of heavy equipment including ariel booms, diggers, backhoes, trackhoes, nodwells, tension stringing equipment, and skid steers
  • splice, solder, and insulate conductors and related wiring to connect power distribution and transmission networks.
power line technician and lift truck
power line technician and lift truck
power line technician and lift truck

When there is a power disturbance or storm damage, Battle River Power Coop Powerline Technicians locate the source of the problem and replace or repair power lines and equipment. They use electrical-testing instruments to identify circuit breakers, fuses, voltage regulators, transformers, switches, relays, or wiring that need to be replaced. The power lines may be de-energized and grounded or may remain energized.

Our Powerline Technicians are there for our members whenever a power disruption happens – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you are experiencing a power outage, call 1.877.428.3972. Battle River Power Coop is only a phone call away.

August 12, 2024

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